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py l THE 



ANNUAL ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



BELLES-LETTRES AND UNION PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES 



DICKINSON COLLEGE, CARLISLE, PA. 

July 18, 1838, 



SIDNEY G. FISHER, ESQ. 



OF PHILADELPHIA, 



GRADUATE MEMBER OF THE UNION PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



Fublished at the request of both Societies, 



CARLISLE, 

PRINTED BY GEORGE M. PHILLIPS 



1338. 






►v * • *, ^ **>v '» S * 



In Exchange 

Peabody Inst, of BaKo, 

jnne 16 1927 



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.745" 



Dear Sir : ^ 

We the undersigned, in behalf of the Union Philosophical and Belles-Lettres 
Societies, are ordered by the above-mentioned associations to express their 
grateful acknowledgments for your very able and eloquent address delivered diis 
morning ; and to request a copy of the same for publication. 

Yours, &c. 
July 18, 1838. 

CHARLES DENISON, -j Com. of the Union 

. E. E MELIUS LE CLERC, i- Philosophical So- 

RICHARD B. McALLISTER,3 ciety. 



NICHOLLS, 

Sidney G. Fisheh, Est*. 



W. L. DEW ART, -s „ . ,. „ ., 

R. W. BUDD, l Co ' n - °f th S Belles ~ 

j. nicholls, 5 Lettres Soaet y- 



Carlisle, July 19, 1S38. 
Gentlemen : — My address is, of course, entirely at your service. I regret 
that it is not better worthy the occasion and your good opinion. 
I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

SIDNEY G. FISHER. 
To Messrs. Charles Denison, 

E. Emelius Le Clerc, 
Richard B. McAllister, 
William L. Dewart, 
R. W. Budd, 
,1. Nicholls. , . 



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ADDRESS, 



Gentlemen of the Belles- Lettres and Union Philosophical 
Societies : 

Whilst in revisiting a scene of my youth, connected with so 
many interesting associations, it is natural that my mind should 
dwell on the past ; that memory should be busy in recalling the 
once familiar faces, the warm confiding friendships, the pleasures, 
the studies, the young aspirations, the budding passions and the 
bold hopes of that never-forgotten period of man's life, his College 
days, — yet in addressing you I feel that the future, not the past„ 
is the fitting topic. 

What is to me recollection, is to you either anticipation or 
present enjoyment; to many of you the hour has arrived, to all 
of you the hour will soon arrive, when released from the restraints, 
removed also from the protection of Alma Mater, you are to 
assume the responsibilities, encounter the perils, perform the 
duties, and enter into the active business of life. The few years 
of easy study and careless happiness passed in these halls, have 
brought you to a point at which you may well pause and survey 
the future which lies before you. The prospect is broad, varied, 
and indistinct; — "distance lends enchantment to the view," and 
the young imagination suffuses it with its own bright tints. Your 
journey of life lies through that wide and beautiful landscape, and 
you are about to commence it full of confidence and hope. It is 
the morning; the sky is clear, — the air is fresh, — the sun shines 
brightly. Seen through the vivifying medium of youthful spirits, 
every thing seems easy, every thing promises delight. That dim 
blue outline which bounds the horizon does not seem to be a steep 
and rocky mountain barrier ; those dark masses of rich foliage 
look like shady retreats and pleasant forest glades, not deep and 



tnngled wildernesses; and that slender line of light glittering in 
the sunbeams, surely it is not a broad and impetuous river. 

Such are the illusions of youthful fancy confident in untried 
powers, filled with vague visions of pleasure, fame and success, 
and ignorant that such things as care and sorrow and disappoint- 
ment have existence, Slowly but surely experience teaches a 
different lesson. As the realities of life unfold themselves to our 
view, many things that appeared beautiful, lose their charm ; 
many things that appeared easy are found to be difficult ; many 
things that appeared desirable are found to be worthless. Our 
feelings, our tastes, our desires, our aspirations change. Obsta- 
cles arise in our path, unforseen, difficult to overcome. Plans 
prudently formed, hopes wisely indulged, are often disappointed. 
Amid the stern contests and heated competition of the world, we 
find that we are obliged to struggle with the passions and selfish- 
ness of others, with sin and folly. In such contests, to few is it 
given to say — " veni, vidi, vici." In all our efforts we are 
opposed, sometimes by the pretensions of other men, often by the 
indolence and weakness of our own nature. As the youthful 
mind discovers and learns to appreciate the true and worthy 
objects of desire, it finds also that they cannot be had for asking ; 
that they are the results and the rewards of adequate exertion 
alone. The traveller, on a broad and dusty road, sees around 
him on every side fields waving with plenty, rich orchards and 
stately mansions, the abodes of elegance and ease. But they are 
not his. They are all appropriated ; fenced round by high walls, 
still more strongly fenced by invisible barriers of selfishness, 
cupidity and pride. He may not even set his foot upon them, 
but must keep to the public high-way, rough and weary though it 
be. To obtain one of those beautiful and green retreats, he must 
pay its price. Thus it is with all that is truly valuable and 
desirable in life ; knowledge, fame, wealth ; the respect and 
regard of our fellow-men, the happiness of domestic life, the 
peaceful serenity of virtue, the sweet recollection of well-spent 
days and good deeds done, all these we see around us, possessed 
and enjoyed by others. They also have their price. To admire 
them and wish for them is one thing, to win them another. If we 



would have that which we esteem " the ornament of life," we must 
" dare to be the same in our act and valor as we are in desire." 
Persevering labor, -energetic action, self-control, prudence, just 
and honorable conduct, will procure these blessings in a greater 
or less degree for any man. Without these qualities, genius is 
often a fatal gift which " leads to bewilder and dazzles to blind." 
But guided, regulated, directed by their influence, its light is 
pure and steady, brilliant and warm, an ornament and a blessing 
to its possessor and to the w r orld. 

From our daily observation and experience, as well as from the 
history of those superior spirits who have from time to time risen 
to command, to benefit, to instruct or to delight mankind, we may 
learn this important lesson, obvious one would think, yet not 
always fully appreciated ; that a man's success and happiness 
depend not upon accident or external circumstance, but upon the 
moral and intellectual qualities which he possesses and exerts. 
These qualities produce their effects naturally, necessarily, and 
with the uniformity and certainty of physical causes. Mind acts 
upon mind with as much regularity as matter upon matter. We 
are all spirits in communion with spirits and are governed by 
spiritual things. Fear and wonder, admiration and reverence, 
confidence and love, are excited in our breasts by the contemplation 
of high endowments and noble virtues and glorious deeds, in spite 
of ourselves. The emotions w r ith which we inspire others, next 
to a self-approving conscience, are the best reward of exertion ; 
those produced by mental superiority and moral excellence, spring 
from a far higher and purer scource than the outward show of 
respect paid by the crowd to rank and wealth and all the " leather 
and prunella" by which vanity and folly seek in vain to conceal 
their emptiness. Not by what a man possesses but by what he 
is and does, is he really estimated by those w r hose good opinion 
is of value, and what is of more importance, according to this 
standard, does he in his own heart estimate himself. " Not what 
I have, but w r hat I do, is my true kingdom," says a distinguished 
writer. The knowledge gained by labor, the fame won by success, 
the recollection of worthy deeds performed and the consciousness 
of faculties strengthened and improved by cultivation, is a better 
possession than houses and lands, and is one regarded with secret 



8 

•envy and conscious degradation by the indolent and luxurious 
lord of thousands. 

You have, gentlemen, for a few years past, under the care and 
guidance of experienced instructors, been engaged together in 
the pursuit of a common object. The hour of parting has arrived 
for many, and you are now to go forth into the world, alone and 
dependant upon your own resources, each one to follow that 
career to which choice or circumstances may call him. Whatever 
path you may pursue, whatever ends you may desire to attain, 
the studies which have employed you here will have a most 
important influence upon your success. You should not consider 
them ended, but endeavor to perfect in future years what has 
been here commenced ; to erect a lofty and adorned superstructure 
upon the foundations here laid. Knowledge is poAver, and every 
day it is becoming more powerful. Infinite is the superiority of 
the informed over the ignorant mind, and in the rivalships and 
contests of ambition, the most successful and the most useful are 
those who bring to their task, not merely the professional acquire- 
ments which it demands, but the enlarged and liberal views, the 
varied thought and illustration, the cultivated and accomplished 
intellect, which are the results of general knowledge in literature 
and science alone. 

It would be saying little, however in favor of the advantages 
of liberal education, to recommend it only as a means of success 
to the ambitious, as an aid to the efforts of those who are strug- 
gling for the common and worldly objects of desire. For these 
it is not always necessary. Wealth, the attainment of which 
absorbs the thoughts and stimulates the exertions of too many 
minds worthy of better things, may be gained without it. 
Industry, economy and practical business ability will gain it 
for any one, — the most sordid and ignorant : and many a man 
is " good on change" whose ideas are bounded by the tables 
of interest, and to whom the accumulated wisdom of the world 
is a sealed book. Neither, it appears, is the possession of 
knowledge, elegant or profound, necessary for the attainment 
of political place and power, however essential it may be to 
political usefulness. Party management, servile flattery of the 



people, impudent pretension, reckless agitation, base fawning 
on popular leaders, gain them often for the unworthy. By 
such arts real merit is frequently overcome, and it sometimes 
happens that extensive power is confided to those who, intent 
only on their own ends, have neither virtue to desire the public 
good, nor intellect and knowledge to conceive or to execute any 
enlarged and liberal system of policy to promote it. 

Knov/ledge has better and higher uses. It is valuable from its 
own intrinsic excellence, and should be sought as an end as well 
as a means. Its pursuit and possession are sources of the purest 
enjoyment, and it enables man to accomplish the great duty of 
all men, the duty of doing good. "Studies," says Lord Bacon, 
" serve for delight, for ornament and for ability." The investi- 
gation and perception of truth, the appreciation of the great works 
of human genius, the contemplation of the events and characters 
of the past, and communion with the gifted minds whose varied 
thought has been preserved to us through the lapse of time, are 
pleasures which can never be exhausted and which increase by 
indulgence. Unlike the gratifications of sense or the excitements 
of passion, they strengthen the intellect, refine and purify the 
feelings, and are beyond the reach of evil fortune. The most 
graceful ornament of prosperity, they are the best solace of ad- 
versity, and whilst they elevate our minds to the conception and 
desire of worthy ends, they give us also the power to achieve 
them. 

I cannot cite a better illustration of these truths, than the life 
of the illustrious man whose works have been the delight and 
ornament of the present age, and who has left the impress of his 
genius so deeply stamped upon its mind and literature ; — I mean 
Sir Walter Scott. He was an extraordinary example of the union 
of high endowments with' noble virtues, and they were so happily 
mingled and equally balanced in his character, that we scarcely 
know which is most worthy our admiration, the wonderful intel- 
lect whose rapid creations delighted and amazed the world, or the 
manly generosity, pure integrity, kindly affection and warmth of 
heart which shed so much lustre on his private life and diffused 
so much happiness around his domestic circle. Throughout the 



10 

whole of his career it is an instructive and satisfactory thing to 
observe the intimate relation of cause and effect, between the va-« 
rious and abounding prosperity and success which he enjoyed 
and the great and good qualities which he possessed and actively 
exerted. The choicest blessings of human life were his ; but 
they were not "thrust upon him." He won them by strenuous 
exertion ; he paid their price. His extended fame, the applause 
and homage of the civilized world, he owed indeed to genius ; but 
it was genius cultivated and exerted with persevering labor. His 
wealth was the effect of industry and practical good sense ; the 
respect and devoted affection of his friends, were the result of 
estimable virtues and constant offices of kindness. All that he 
possessed he achieved by energetic action. He belonged to the 
doers not to the dreamers of this world, and when calamity over- 
took him, — when the fortune which he had reared was swept 
away and his hearth was made desolate by death, all the most 
valuable results of a laborious life remained to him. His fame, 
his knowledge, his works ; the noble consciousness of intellec- 
tual superiority, the memory of days well spent, reverence and 
regard from all men, "love, honor, obedience and troops of 
friends," all these were beyond the reach of accident. Dark 
clouds overshadowed the evening of his life, but the divine light 
of genius and virtue suffused them with its radiance, and their 
presence only added to the impressive beauty and grandeur of the 
sunset. As few possess the genius of Scott, so few can aspire to 
reach the lofty eminence to which it conducted him. But his 
history, which we possess in such minute detail, is full of instruc- 
tion and encouragement to the humblest. A brilliant existence 
is the lot of few, but the practice of virtue, amiable and gracious 
manners, strenuous exertion and diligent cultivation of the mind, 
are within the power of all. They will produce for any one their 
appropriate rewards; the respect and good will of society, the 
regard and esteem of friends, and above all the conscious supe- 
riority of intellectual power and moral worth. 

On an occasion like this, however, with reflections on your 
individual destinies and on the causes which may influence them 
for your success and happiness, are mingled considerations of a 



11 

more general nature. I am addressing a portion of the youthful 
mind and energy of the country, about to go forth and exhibit itself 
in action amid the interests and affairs of men ; to produce its 
effects upon society ; to play a part among the various agents at 
work in directing the course of our common country, for good or 
for evil, towards the future. In looking forward to that future, if 
there be much reason for hope there is also much reason for 
anxiety, — and no one who properly appreciates the importance of 
individual effort, can regard the entrance into active life of a body 
of educated young men, Avith other than feelings of profound in- 
terest. We live in peculiar times and in a peculiar country. The 
characteristic of the age, more strikingly developed here than 

elsewhere, is love of freedom ; freedom of thought and action a 

noble passion, but liable to dangerous excesses. Hence have 
arisen clashing opinions, unsettled principles, visionary theories, 
and wild impulses leading often to irregular and tumultuous 
movement. Every thing is examined, discussed, disputed; noth- 
ing is considered established, nothing sacred from innovation, but 
laws and constitutions and principles of government are altered in 
accordance with the changes of popular opinion, sometimes of 
popular caprice, and each one, unawed by authority and without 
fixed belief or recognised guide, unrestrained by existing institu- 
tions or by time-honored memories of the past, forms independently 
his own standard of what is right and desirable, and attempts to 
realize it in practice. In this way is produced that mighty and 
overwhelming power, public opinion, the true " sceptred mon- 
arch" of modern times. Constantly assuming new forms, ever 
changing and producing changes, now smooth and calm as the 
surface of a summer sea, now lashed by tempests into violence 
and fury, the heaving thought and passion of the people bear 
upon its surges towards the unknown future, the hopes and 
happiness of the nation. In proportion as this great power is 
informed by knowledge, guided by just principles and directed to 
worthy ends, will be the prosperity and greatness of that future, 
the success and permanence of the government. Great resources, 
great works achieved by labor, will not secure the stability of free 
institutions nor the continuance and increase of prosperous fortune. 



12 

These depend on moral causes, and in order that they may be 
put in operation, the true principles of political science, the real 
sources of national happiness, must be understood and appreciated 
by those who control the destinies of the country. Supreme 
power, wielded by ignorance, is a dangerous thing, and produces 
often, with the best intentions, the most disastrous results. The 
evil consequences of error are without limit, and press directly 
upon every source of happiness, whilst the importance of truth in 
all things relating to social combination and action is incalculably 
great. With its discovery and application, society has advanced 
to its present state of security, comfort and refinement, and every 
step in its progress has been the result of increasing knowledge 
of the principles of moral science. 

When we survey the complicated yet regular operations of 
modern society, its diversified relations and various interests, all 
combined into a system of harmony and order. When we behold 
wealth accumulating, knowledge increasing, the arts advancing 
towards unexpected improvements, and existence becoming every 
day more elevated, more convenient and more refined, we are 
naturally led to investigate the causes that have produced such 
fortunate results, and to inquire into the best means of preserving 
and multiplying the advantages we enjoy. These things have 
not always existed ; in many countries they do not now exist. 
Nothing can be more striking than the contrast between modern 
civilization and ancient barbarism. It is the difference between 
freedom, wealth and knowledge, and the general comfort, moral 
dignity and intellectual superiority which accompany them, — and 
oppression, poverty and ignorance with their attendant misery 
and degradation. What has produced this difference? Why is 
human existence a better thing in the nineteenth than it was in the 
tenth or the fifteenth century ? Climate and soil and the faculties 
and passions of mind and body have remained the same. Men 
love and hate and seek wealth and power ; childhood is innocent 
and joyous, youth ardent and impetuous, manhood scheming and 
serious, now as then. Yet much is changed. We are better fed, 
better clothed, and our houses are more warm and commodious. 
Medical science has alleviated the sufferings of disease, and 



13 

lengthened the duration of life. Improved machinery has made 
existence luxurious and refined, and placed comfort, formerly the 
possession of a few, within the reach of all. The same wonder- 
working agent, by supplying the wants of the whole community 
by the labor of a part of it, has relieved many from the necessity 
of constant toil and afforded leisure for mental cultivation and the 
accumulation of knowledge. The dignity and the delights of 
intellectual exercise and improvement are now possessed and en- 
joyed by large classes of society formerly degraded by ignorance 
and vice. Men now think and speak and act according to the 
dictates of reason and conscience, without fear of persecution, 
religious or political ; — of the dungeon, the stake or the scaffold. 
They are protected in person and property by established law, 
and from the oppression of the law, by choosing their own legis- 
lators. These blessings have been the gradual result of the 
adoption of correct principles of government and legislation. 
Freedom and security, by affording the widest scope and the 
strongest inducements to exertion, have developed in all their 
energy the powers of mind and produced the civilization and su- 
perior happiness of modern times. Without the intelligence and 
activity inspired by their influence, the mass would have still 
remained degraded and oppressed, and society would have made 
no progress. Had the principles of moral science as now de- 
veloped, been understood in former ages, the history of the world 
would not have been so dark a record of tyranny and persecution, 
of war and violence, of misery and crime. Men do not seek 
voluntarily their own wretchedness, and if they fail in the pursuit 
of happiness, it is because they are ignorant of the means of at- 
taining it. 

If the advantages of truth and the evil consequences of error be 
thus extensive and important, the diffusion of correct knowledge 
and the application of sound principles are essential to the pros- 
perity of our country and the security of its institutions. We 
may boast of our vast and fertile territories, of our broad lakes and 
rivers, of our untouched and inexhaustible resources ; these are 
valueless without knowledge and energy to use them and to de- 
velope their hidden treasures. Mind, not matter, is the source of 



14 

national greatness ; it produces national wealth, and those moral 
blessings which are superior to all wealth, — knowledge and vir- 
tue, — peace, harmony and good will among men. Only under 
the influence of wise institutions can the powers of mind rind 
range and objects for exertion, can evil passions be softened and 
restrained, and the purer and nobler impulses of our nature be 
cherished and developed. To the knowledge and application, 
more or less correct and extensive of political truth, is to be at- 
tributed the greatness and glory of those ancient nations whose 
names have come down to us covered with such imperishable 
renown. Greece and Rome, from their barren and narrow terri- 
tories, went forth to the conquest of vast and fertile regions. 
Freedom and knowledge gave them the intellectual and moral 
power which enabled the few to triumph over the many, and 
made valor and skill victorious over numbers and ferocity. With 
the causes which produced it, the empire of those haughty nations 
has passed away; but the moral and intellectual dominion ac- 
quired during the period of their greatness, has increased and will 
continue to increase as long as virtue and wisdom and glorious 
achievements and the productions of genius shall excite the sym- 
pathy and admiration of men. In modern times what is it, but 
British freedom and British law which has enabled the " pigmy 
arm of England" to stretch its sceptre so widely over sea and 
land ; which has made it not only the richest but the most en- 
lightened and most moral nation in Europe, and given to its arts, 
its arms, its policy and its literature so powerful and beneficial an 
influence over the private happiness and public affairs of the 
world. 

We are descended from fathers " whose limbs were bred in 
England" — and the principles of English liberty and English law 
are the richest portion of our inheritance. These are the true 
sources of American enterprize and industry, the real causes of 
all that we have yet achieved. Too much importance is often 
attached to visible and material things, and we are apt to forget 
the superior power of the invisible and moral over the interests 
and affairs of men. We see around us the activity and bustle of 
prosperous business ; an increasing commerce, improving agri- 



15 

culture, flourishing towns, rising cities, a contented and happy 
population, and we talk much of our wide territories, our tempe- 
rate climate, our fertile soil, our energy and enterprize as the 
causes of it all. They are proximate not ultimate causes. Pillars s 
not foundation-stones. These lie beneath the surface and are 
invisible, yet sustain and give solidity and strength to the whole 
structure. The true sources of all our greatness and all our hap- 
piness are, the general principles upon which our government has 
been formed and our laws enacted. In proportion to their truth 
has been our prosperity, and if in place of the sound principles 
which have sustained and guided us as yet, we should substitute 
the erroneous doctrines of the past, we would go back also to the 
barbarism and misery of the past of which they were the causes, 
and the fair fabric of our happiness and glory would vanish like a 
vision. Let us suppose the security of property destroyed. En- 
terprize and industry deprived of their only inducement for 
exertion, the certainty of being able fully to control and enjoy 
their acquisions, would be speedily converted into apathy and 
idleness ; capital would fly to safer regions for investment ; the 
ships of commerce would rot in its ports ; the shuttle of the 
weaver and the hammer of the mechanic would no longer be 
heard ; towns and cities would dwindle and decay ; the wilder- 
ness of the West, untouched by the plough, would remain a 
wilderness for ever ; comfort, and convenience and refinement 
would disappear from our homes, and men, caring only for present 
enjoyment, toiling only to satisfy the wants of to-day, would soon 
be reduced to the misery and degradation which are the conse- 
quences of poverty, improvidence and sloth. Take away the 
security of person, deliver men up to the control of arbitrary 
power or to the assaults of violence and ferocity. Immediately 
the weak would become the victims of the strong; brute force 
would triumph over reason and knowledge and justice; all the 
fierce and destructive passions would be roused up to fearful ac- 
tion; the people would unite together in armed bands under 
different leaders as they did in feudal times, to seek by mutual 
support the protection government did not afford, and society 
would become a scene of bloodshed and outrage. Destroy the 



16 

liberty "of speech and the press, and prohibit the investigation and 
circulation of truth on the subjects most important to human 
happiness. The progress of knowledge and the dissemination of 
it, would be checked; the public mind, deprived of the stimulus 
of an interesting topic, would become listless and inactive for 
want of exercise ; the pleasures of sense and the amusements of 
frivolity would supply the excitement once afforded by higher 
objects; ignorance and its natural companions, depravity and 
vice, would overspread and corrupt all classes ; and instead of the 
bold and animated discussion, the eager and active research, the 
competition, the press, the rush of varied thought, which now in- 
form and rouse the souls of men, no voice would come from the 
blank and dreary waste of the public mind on the great topic of 
human hopes and destinies, except perhaps at long intervals, that, 
of some daring and enthusiastic spirit, worthy abetter fate, whose 
love of truth, stronger than his fear of tyrants, might prompt him 
to attempt to burst the thraldom by which he was surrounded; 
like the eagle which, when deprived of its free soar through the 
heavens, beats its wings and beak against its prison bars, utters 
from time to time its scream of agony and impatience, and pines 
away in the grief and exasperation of confinement. 

Such effects have always been produced by such causes, as all 
history informs us, and in countries too where Nature's bounties 
have been most profusely lavished ; and such would be the con- 
sequences of their operation here, notwithstanding all the advan- 
tages of our situation. Freedom and security are the sources of 
our prosperity, and they are results of the sound political princi- 
ples upon which our institutions have been established; of con- 
stitutional limitations to power, of popular representation, of an 
independent judiciary, and of laws impartially administered and 
rigidly enforced. 

But laws and constitutions are the creatures of popular will, 
and are liable to be altered, and in fact are constantly changing 
with its fluctuations. That these changes may be for the better 
and not for the worse, that the new truths developed by the in- 
creasing experience, the varying circumstances and the multiply- 
ing wants of society may be understood and applied, public 



17 

opinion must be enlightened and the mass made to comprehend 
the true causes of social happiness and improvement. 

Popular education has been usually regarded as the principal 
means for the accomplishment of this end, and most praise-worthy 
efforts have been made by our own state to extend its blessings 
as widely as possible. It is undoubtedly essential, but not alone 
sufficient. It may prepare the ground, but other hands must sow 
the seed of any really valuable harvest. The great majority of 
men are engaged in the drudgery of daily labor or the absorbing 
pursuits of business ; the necessities of their position do not afford 
leisure for any thing like extensive study or research, whilst their 
various and active employments, their participation in political 
rights and duties, and the opportunities of gaining information 
which all possess, enable them to profit by the intellectual labors 
of others and open their minds to the impressions of truth and 
reason. But these causes render them liable to be influenced 
also by sophistry and error. The public mind possesses that 
"little knowledge" which is "a dangerous thing," and is ever 
liable to be led astray by specious arguments and plausible theories, 
particularly when accompanied by artful flattery and skilful ap- 
peals to passion. To penetrate the disguises of dazzling rhetoric, 
to detect the unsoundness of ingenious reasoning, to perceive the 
ultimate tendency of public measures and to merge all desire for 
the success of a party, or the apparent interests of a class in a 
patriotic wish for the permanent public good, requires a degree of 
sagacity and moral elevation rarely possessed. It is not astonish- 
ing, therefore, that the multitude are often deceived. The advo- 
cates of error are always numerous, and they are stimulated to 
activity by powerful inducements. Extravagant opinions, doc- 
trines absurd and dangerous, and schemes subversive of all go- 
vernment and order, are constantly proposed and pushed into 
action with all the energy of fanatic enthusiasm or the corrupt 
arts and reckless violence of sordid self-interest or dishonest 
ambition. The ignorance and passions of the mass render them 
always liable to be deluded and led into excess, and afford ample 
field for the enterprizes of the designing. Demagogues and agi- 
tators, obscure adventurers, too indolent for labor, too worthless 

3 



18 

to inspire the confidence of good men, and eager to "catch the 
nearest way" to fortune; outcasts from decent society, stung to 
madness by deserved reproach and panting for revenge ; the 
vulgar ambitious who mistake notoriety for fame, popularity for 
honor, and being without the taste to appreciate or the ability to 
obtain the respect of the virtuous and the educated, are willing to 
acquire that importance which is conferred by the power to do 
harm ; all such are ever industriously employed to diffuse error, 
to flatter prejudices, to excite one portion of society against ano- 
ther, and to rouse all the fierce passions which lead to anarchy 
and civil broil, by which they can lose nothing and may gain 
what to them seems much. Unhappily they are able to attract 
adherents and to form parties. Many erroneous opinions are 
abroad on subjects important to social happiness which produce 
constantly inconvenience and disorder, and which, if suffered to 
grow unchecked and to overspread society with their baneful in- 
fluence, must lead to most calamitous results. Therefore it is 
that thinking men watch the formation and course of public opi- 
nion with profound interest, and view indications of popular error 
and popular passion, with the anxiety and alarm which the ma- 
riner feels when he sees dark clouds forming in the horizon and 
the wind coming from the wrong quarter of the heavens ; tokens 
of the approaching tempest which is to stir up the "wild and 
wasteful ocean" to destructive fury. 

The influence of error can only be counteracted by the superior 
power of truth, to which the human mind naturally pays willing 
homage and allegiance as soon as it is able to recognize her fea* 
tures. Men do not adopt erroneous opinions because they believe 
them to be erroneous, but because they believe them to be true; 
they worship the idol because they deem it a divinity, Truth, 
therefore, to produce its benefits must not be suffered to remain at 
the bottom of a well. It must be explained, enforced, diffused 
among the people. For what avails it that discoveries in science 
are made, if the knowledge of them is confined to the learned and 
studious ; if it is to be found only on the shelves of libraries, to 
be gained only in the halls of colleges. During the darkest pe- 
riods of human degradation and misery, knowledge existed. But 



19 

it existed for the few, not for the many ; it "was enveloped in an 
■unknown tongue : it was shut up in monasteries and palaces. 
The philosophv of Greece and Rome, the experience of the most 
glorious and enlightened period of history, was the property of 
priests and tyrants, and they guarded the treasure with jealous 
care. They knew that it was the source of their power ; that if 
diffused anions: the people it would make them powerful; that it 
would break asunder the bonds of oppression and prostrate the 
towering fabrics of tyrauny and superstition, erected through long 
years of fraud and violence. They judged rightly, for such were 
the results of its emancipation, and its blessings have gone on 
increasing ever since. The freedom and civilization of the pre- 
sent, are due not to the present but to the past. They are the 
effects of thought disseminated, of moral causes put in operation 
by the efforts of bold, enlightened and self-devoted men of for- 
mer ages, who in defiance of danger and persecution, taught man- 
kind their rights and duties, their true dignity and proper destiny, 
and the real sources of public prosperity and private happiness. 

With the diffusion of knowledge, civilization has advanced, and 
the progress of society, by creating new wants and new relations, 
has developed new truths and suggested new arrangements and 
provisions in government and law. These have become the sub- 
jects of scientific investigation. Facts have been observed and 
classified, and general laws deduced according to the rules of an 
enlightened philosophy. The means of producing freedom and 
security by the structure and administration of government, of 
increasing the powers of industry and of promoting the accumu- 
lation and diffusion of the comforts and conveniences of life among 
all classes, have been made the objects of research, not without 
success. The results of these labors are the sciences of Politics 
and Political Economy in their present state. Much remains to 
be done before theoretical perfection can be attained, but much 
more remains to be done before the truths already discovered can 
produce the benefits which would flow from their adoption. The 
knowledge exists, but in the minds of the few, not of the many. 
It is powerless until disseminated. The principles already esta- 
blished by the reasonings of ingenious men from the experience 



20 

of the past, would prevent, if applied to practice, much evil now 
endured, and produce much good, attainable, but lost, through 
ignorance of their existence and value. Before these can influ- 
ence public measures and social life, they must first be generally 
understood and appreciated, and become the guides of public 
opinion. For this purpose the fountains of public opinion must 
be imbued with their spirit. They must be heard in legislative 
halls and popular addresses ; the daily press must scatter them 
through the land ; they must be discussed in the private conver- 
sation and illustrated in the conduct and example of influential 
men in every station of life. 

This power of public opinion is a veiy great power in all 
countries. Under every form of government it is tacitly referred 
to and secretly respected and feared. Here its supremacy is 
openly recognized ; it is the true sovereign, and governs directly 
and immediately, with unquestioned authority, every public mea- 
sure, and controls to a great extent also the habits and manners 
of private life. Its sway is irresistible ; those who should attempt 
to oppose would be crushed by its career. But if it cannot be 
checked it may be guided, and from the constitution of human 
nature it must and will always be guided by persons whose mind 
and energy make them superior to the mass ; 

" For those who think must govern those who toil." 

According to the character of that guidance, will be the influence 
of this great, power upon national prosperity and private happiness. 
If directed by virtue and wisdom — -that enlarged and elevated 
virtue and wisdom, which, disdaining party feeling and private 
ends, seeks the attainment of the highest good for the whole 
country and for all classes-^the sway of public opinion is liberty 
in its true sense; it is the sway of knowledge and justice and 
truth, to which men pay spontaneous and willing obedience. On 
the other hand, the dominion of ignorance and selfishness, is 
tyranny not less degrading and destructive because exercised 
under the forms and with the apparatus of free institutions. In- 
deed, the operation of abused and ill-directed power is often more 
harrassing and oppressive when exerted by the many, than it is 
when in the hands of an individual. The cruelties of the despot 



21 

are confined, for the most part, to the narrow sphere which im- 
mediately surrounds him, and there is always the hope left that 
he may be succeeded by a ruler of a different temper. But from 
the tyranny of public opinion, founded in error, impelled by pas- 
sion and wielded by the selfish and the corrupt, there is no chance 
of escape, no hope of release except through the dangers and 
horrors of anarchy and revolution, to which its excesses naturally 
tend. It directs the measures of government through all its rami- 
fications ; domineers over thought and action ; pervades the whole 
country and makes itself felt in every city and village and remote 
neighborhood : it prevents the administration of law and obstructs 
the course of justice; destroys the security of person and proper- 
ty, and selects always for the objects of outrage and oppression, 
that portion of the community whose morality, intelligence and 
industry render them the friends of peace and good order and the 
opponents of violence and misrule. 

Such is the government of public opinion ; beneficial and safe, 
fostering every virtue, stimulating every talent, and guarding from 
assault all the sources of prosperity and happiness, when guided 
by the desire of worthy ends and knowledge of the means of at- 
taining them, but degrading and destructive when swayed by 
ignorance and the impulses of popular passion. 

You, gentlemen, are about to go forth, from this quiet retreat, 
into the business and bustle of the world, to influence its affairs 
and to play your part in the eternal contest of truth and error. 
Your thought is to form a portion of public opinion, your action 
is to assist in its expression and to add weight to its operation 
upon the interests and destiny of the country. Whether your 
station be public or private, you will possess the privileges and 
be bound to the duties of an American citizen. From this there 
is no escape, and your first effort should be to gain the knowledge 
which will enable you to perform those duties with honor to 
yourselves and advantage to society. For this purpose, it is not 
sufficient that you become acquainted with the structure and pro- 
visions of the political system under which you live. If you 
wish to think and act understandingly, you must study those 
branches of moral philosophy which teach the objects of social 



22 

combination and the means by which they may be attained, and 
which explain the general principles upon which all government 
and society is founded. These inquiries, aided and illustrated by 
the records of the past, will reveal to you the true sources of na- 
tional prosperity and social happiness ; they will impress upon 
your minds the inestimable importance of truth as the cause of 
all the good that man has yet achieved ; they will show also the 
infinite danger of error, as now and in all former time the fruitful 
source of misery and disorder. Elevated by knowledge above 
the stir and tumult of low passion, of petty interests, of transient 
excitements and selfish contests, you will be able to fix your gaze 
steadfastly on those great principles which affect permanently the 
welfare of the state, and upon which the existence and progress 
of society depend. Making them the guides of your opinions 
and of your conduct, you will neither be deluded by sophistry, 
nor hurried into excess by party spirit, nor sympathize with the 
outbreaks of popular passion, nor become the adherents and slaves 
of ambitious men. The application of these principles is as mi- 
nute as it is extensive ; they shed light upon and govern the 
decision of all questions of a public nature, whether great or 
small ; their influence affects not only national prosperity but 
private happiness ; their operation supports the fabric of society 
and controls the interests not only of nations but individuals ; like 
the force of gravity, whose pervading power wheels the planets 
in their appointed rounds and regulates the system of the universe, 
whilst it determines also the fall of a leaf and the position of a 
pebble. 

It may be the lot of many of you to reach those public stations 
which confer political power. In this case, the importance of 
correct knowledge in moral science will be increased in proportion 
to the extent of your influence. It will lead your minds to desire, 
and enable you to exercise that power which is alone the object 
of virtuous ambition, and for the sake of which only, high place 
and authority are desirable, the power of doing good. But, 
thanks to the intelligence and freedom of thought and discussion 
which modern civilization has produced, political power is no 
longer essential to public usefulness, and from the most secluded 



23 

and obscure retirement, knowledge and intellect may address and 
convince the minds of men and thus influence public opinion. 
"It is one mark," says Dr. Channing, "of the progress of so- 
ciety, that it brings down the public man and raises the private 
one. It throws power into the hands of untitled individuals and 
spreads it through all orders of the community. It multiplies and 
distributes freely means of extensive influence, and opens new 
channels by which the gifted mind, in whatever rank or condition, 
may communicate itself far and wide. Through the diffusion of 
education and printing, a private man may now speak to multi- 
tudes incomparably more numerous than ancient or modern elo- 
quence ever electrified in the popular assembly or the hall of 
legislation. By these instruments, truth is asserting her sovre- 
ignty over nations without the help of rank, office or sword, and 
her faithful ministers become more and more the law-givers of 
the world." 

The privilege of addressing the public mind is, however, open 
to the ignorant and the designing, as well as to the informed and 
disinterested lover of truth. The press may be made, and is 
made, the vehicle of error and pernicious sentiment as well as of 
sound principle. In the discussions of the legislature, in popular 
addresses, in the journals of the day, and in the intercourse of 
society, opinions are constantly advanced at variance with the 
lessons of experience and the deductions of philosophy, which, if 
adopted in practice, would be the sources of extensive evil. These 
have their influence on public opinion, and that they may not 
acquire dominion over it, they must be opposed by the diffusion 
of correct knowledge. This can only be accomplished by indi- 
vidual effort ; by the conversation, the writings, the conduct and 
example of educated men scattered through the country ; connected 
with the mass by the various interests and infinite relations of 
society, and exercising that influence which knowledge and moral 
superiority always confer. All the science, all the literature, all 
the art which mankind at present possess, are the result of the 
labors of individuals accumulated through successive ages, and 
communicated from the past to the present. One gifted mind 
may thus, by the discovery of important truth, extend and increase 



24 

ils influence through all future time. Truth produces truth; 
Thought propagates itself, and the sway of the great master who 
began the series and gave it tone and direction, is thus confirmed 
and strengthened by the lapse of years. Has time weakened the 
dominion of Shakspeare over the minds and hearts of men? It 
is increasing every day with increasing intelligence, and his genius 
now exerts a greater influence than at any former period ovef the 
thought and literature of the age. Has the power of Bacon ceased ? 
Is not his empire extending every day ? Look round at the 
triumphs of modern science ; at the magical results of mechanic 
art. It clothes us, it feeds us, it shelters us ; — it diffuses knowledge 
and enables mind to communicate with mind in past ages and in 
distant places ; it facilitates intercourse and binds nations together 
in the strong bands of mutual interest and support, and is the 
great producer of comfort, convenience and refinement. These 
and many other benefits have flowed from him who first taught 
men how to reason. Who pointed to truth as the great object of 
exertion and showed the path by which alone it can be reached ; 
who discovered the sources of all art and science, and explained 
the means by which they may be created and perfected* 

To discover new truth requires intellectual power granted to 
few, but all may acquire knowledge of truths already discovered, 
may apply them to existing circumstances, may make them the 
guides of his own conduct, and by assisting in their dissemination, 
extend their influence over the conduct of others. All the impor- 
tant improvements in moral science have in this way gradually 
descended from the few to the many, arid produced the benefits 
which have flowed from their application. Developed by the 
laborious investigation and patient thought of the solitary student, 
they are at first appreciated only by those qualified by superior 
education to comprehend their value. By such they are explained 
and illustrated, combined into new forms, applied to events as 
they arise, made the foundations of argument and deduction, and 
addressed to the public mind to convince and to persuade; Thus 
It is that the profound abstractions and subtle reasoning of the 
lofty philosopher who has soared into " regions calm, of pure 
and serene air*" above the flight of common men, by the agency 



25 

of humbler minds, are brought down to govern the interests and 
affairs of life. Understood at first by the few, truth, by its rela- 
tions with various topics, by its connection with different interests, 
by being presented in manifold forms, and by the natural love and 
reverence with which it is regarded when recognized by all men, 
gradually pervades and vivifies the mass. Like some kinds of 
manure, it has a tendency to descend, and carries its fertilizing 
influence from the surface to the sub-soil of society. 

As by the diffusion of knowledge, the freedom, security and 
civilization which distinguish the present from the past, have 
been obtained, so only by the same cause can they be sustained 
and increased. The destinies of the country are in the hands of 
the people. They model the government, and according to their 
will it must always be administered. The wishes, the opinions, 
the intellectual and moral standard of the majority will always be 
represented and expressed by the characters of public men and 
the nature of public measures, and the opinions which it may 
form, will prevail, whether founded in truth or error. It is of 
vast importance to the prosperity of the country and to the interests 
of every individual in it, that they should be founded in truth ; to 
insure which some effort must be made by the educated portion 
of society, to explain it and spread a knowledge of it. The mass, 
absorbed in the labor and business of life, have neither leisure nor 
ability for the examination of difficult questions or for gathering 
the materials of correct thought. They must take their opinions 
from others whose knowledge and position enable them to go 
through this process ; not blindly indeed, but with such sagacity 
and independence of judgment as the intelligence of each enables 
him to exercise. Books, for any extensive study, are sealed to 
the multitude. But the daily press, the assemblies of the people, 
the courts of justice, participation in public duties, the conversation 
and discussion of social life, and the lesson taught by passing 
events and growing experience, are avenues wide and ample, if 
filled from pure fountains, through which correct principles may 
be poured forth upon the public mind. 

It is, therefore, both the duty and interest of every one, to whom 
education and circumstances have given the power, to acquire 3 

4 



26 

correct knowledge of the political and social principles which 
maintain the freedom and security of government, and which tend 
to promote the prosperity and happiness of the community in 
which he lives ; and this, not only that he may exercise his own 
rights with wisdom and good effect, but that he may, so far as his 
influence extends, enlighten public opinion where it is in error, 
and guide it towards the attainment of worthy objects by worthy 
means ; that he may assist in the diffusion of knowledge and 
virtue ; that he may promote not only the physical prosperity of 
his country, but that moral and intellectual elevation which 
constitutes true greatness, and without which wealth and luxury 
serve only to degrade and corrupt. 

This influence you will be able to exert. The studies you 
have here pursued, have opened to you sources of knowledge from 
which you may imbue your minds with those great principles of 
truth and justice which sustain and guard all national prosperity 
and social happiness. Study them with care and diligence. 
From the pages of philosophy, from the history of the past, from 
passing events at home and abroad, and from the mighty spectacle 
of existing society, you will learn the nature and operation of 
those causes which govern the destinies of men and nations. 

To every one, according to his ability and position, is given a 
certain sphere of influence and usefulness. Education and moral 
excellence always produce their effects upon society, even by 
their presence and example ; but these effects are often less than 
they might be for want of active exertion. We are apt to be too 
much absorbed in the pursuit of selfish objects, of wealth or of 
power, for the sake of the private advantages which they confer. 
Every man has duties to perform for that society to which he 
owes all that renders life desirable. He ought not to be content 
to receive benefits and render none in return, to pass his days in 
indolent enjoyment or merely selfish activity. No one lives 
worthily who lives for himself alone, and the respect and praise 
of men are due to him only who employs his faculties for the 
good of others. 

To assist in elevating the moral and intellectual standard of the 
people, in the dissemination of that knowledge which teaches the 



27 

true interests of society and the best means of promoting them ; 
to explain and enforce truth ; to detect and refute error ; to banish 
prejudice ; to calm angry passions ; to diffuse a love of justice, 
order and rational freedom, and to aid in the formation of a virtuous 
public opinion, is a task worthy the highest powers and productive 
of the most extensive usefulness. Mighty are the effects of 
individual effort, and a cultivated mind, inspired by the love of 
truth and a desire to do good, may by the diffusion of the know- 
ledge which it has acquired or the conclusions which it has 
deduced, control the order of great events ana extend its influence 
far into the future. As the opinion of the present is the result of 
the thought, in all its varied forms, of the past, so also the opi- 
nion and consequently the destinies of the future, will be modified 
and governed, by the scientific discoveries, the mental acquisitions, 
the passions, the intelligence, the virtues and the vices of our own 
day. Knowledge and an elevated morality are a better bequest 
to posterity than commercial wealth. Destroy our ships and 
cities, make desolate our fields and villages, and leave us freedom, 
literature and the arts ; in a few years these potent agents would 
again, as before, cause towns and cities to arise, spread rich har- 
vests over plain and valley, and whiten every sea with the canvass 
of enterprize and trade. But take from us the discoveries of 
science and the accumulated thoughts of the gifted and the wise ; 
take from us our love of liberty and of law, of justice and of or- 
der, and increase our wealth a thousand-fold ; in a short time the 
fabric of society would be broken up ; oppression and violence 
and crime and degradation in every form would cover the land, 
and even that wealth, so highly prized, would rapidly dwindle and 
disappear. Such are the magical effects of thought and senti- 
ment. They govern the conduct of men, and the conduct of men 
produces all the good and all the evil in the world. 

Whatever may hereafter be your pursuits, whether they lead 
you to a public or a private station, the possession of liberal 
knowledge will give you certain influence over the minds of 
others, a certain power for good or for evil. The opportunities 
for both are afforded to every man. Let no private advantage, no 
selfish ambition tempt you to become the propagators or defenders 



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28 019 847 409 5 

of error, but on all occasions give to the cause of truth, the aid of 
earnest effort and virtuous example. Do not suppose that the 
exertions of an individual can produce but slight effects. Society 
is made up of individuals, and all that society has accomplished 
is the result of their combined labor. You belong to the class of 
educated men of the country, and as members of that body, must 
assume your share of its duties and responsibilities. To you and 
to them it belongs, to support sound principles, to diffuse useful 
knowledge, to allay popular passions, to dissipate popular preju- 
dices, to uphold the cause of peace and order and constitutional 
liberty, to maintain the supremacy o/ law, and to enlighten, ele- 
vate and guide public opinion— that great power which destroys? 
or modifies laws and constitutions at its pleasure, and upon whose 
decisions the future greatness and happiness of the country must 
depend. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 847 409 5 



